Long time passing
Our mushroom reporters are sending us e-mails concluding that it's been a far from abundant year for these much-loved mushrooms. In fact, most of our informants state that morels are simply not to be found. We personally have searched diligently on Mt. Hood, our usual stomping ground for these spring fungi, with little success. Sure, the signs are good (warming earth, appropriate vegetation, plenty of winter rain, etc.), yet there are no Morchella to be lovingly placed in our baskets. Yes, the scenery is great and the weather is pleasant, but we miss our first edible mushrooms of the year with their honeycomb caps and intricate network of ridges and pits and ever-so-yummy flavor!
How sweet the memory of past morel seasons!
A quick visit to the beautiful southern Oregon coast recently brought similar reports about their morel harvests: few are to be found. No one - not the experienced gatherer folks, nor those who make their living in the forest - have tales of any substantial success.
We asked a dear friend and mycologist who spends her spring and summers here on Mt Mood the same question: Where have all the morels gone? This retired Forest Service employee has not found one yet since she arrived from Arizona, and states that she believes Forest Service practices have contributed to the current condition. No details were offered but she stands by her statement.
We do have a suggestion for those seeking morels. Perhaps this isn't the year to invest a lot of time in the woodlands. Instead, check out freshly laid bark dust and chips. Steven and I still smile remembering a time when we were walking in a new development in the Steilacoom area near Tacoma, and were amazed to locate a large collection of morels popping out of the bark chips that had been spread around the trees and shrubs only days earlier. What a gift! Most likely, the chips had once been part of trees in a morel growing area, and these spores had been carried with the chips to Steilacoom.
We hear that one of our neighbors here on the mountain found an enviable amount of morels just the other day, growing outside her backdoor in Government Camp. It was a first-ever fruiting in this location, and something you can be sure that she will check on for many years to come!
Happy hunting and gathering to you. And, do let us hear about your secret urban morel sites! Don't worry - we know how to keep a secret ... really!